BARRIERS
Barriers or walls are a
common sight in our world today, whether itˇ¦s a detour that blocks a road for
construction or a high wall or fence to maintain privacy; walls delineate one
thing from another. They are in place for support as well as give definition to
geographical locations. Walls in the Bible have great significance, the walls
of Jericho falling down is a well known bible story which showed the power of
God in a remarkable way. Nehemiah returned from Babylon to rebuild the walls of
Jerusalem; each description and story relates a negative connotation or a
positive need for the barriers. This week, I would like to combine the Sunday
morning message along with the ˇ§Shepherds Voiceˇ¨ as we speak about
barriers/walls that are both good and necessary in our lives or when we need to
allow the Spirit of God to break some of these down. As we comment on these
things I would like to present three very distinct places in our world that are
either natural or constructed by men which represent the topic we are
developing. They are as follows:
ˇ§In
Australia, The Great Barrier Reef is
one of the seven wonders of the natural world, and pulling away from it, and
viewing it from a greater distance, you can understand why. It is larger than
the Great Wall of China and the only living thing on earth visible from space.
The
reef contains an abundance of marine life and comprises of over 3000 individual
reef systems and coral cays and literally hundreds of picturesque tropical
islands with some of the worlds most beautiful sun-soaked, golden beaches.ˇ¨
ˇ§The Berlin
Wall was a concrete barrier built by the German Democratic Republic (GDR,
East Germany that completely enclosed the city of West Berlin, separating it
from East Germany, including East Berlin. The Wall included guard towers placed
along large concrete walls, which circumscribed a wide area (later known as the
"death strip") that contained anti-vehicle trenches, and other
defenses.ˇ¨
ˇ§The Great Wall of China Chángchéng; literally
"long city/fortress") or Wànlǐ Chángchéng; literally "The
long wall of 10,000 Li s a series of stone and earthen fortifications in
northern China, built, rebuilt, and maintained between the 5th century BC and
the 16th century to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire from
Xiongnu attacks during various successive dynasties. Since the 5th century BC,
several walls have been built that were referred to as the Great Wall. One of
the most famous is the wall built between 220ˇV206 BC by the first Emperor of
China Qin Shi Huang. Little of that wall remains; the majority of the existing
wall were built during the Ming Dynasty. ˇ§
Each one of these has been placed in their location
with a purpose. As we develop these thoughts I would like to turn your
attention to Mark 10:13-16 where Jesus is found once again ministering to a
multitude, and has encountered the Pharisees and their questions. As we break
in at verse 13, people are bringing children to the Lord and the disciples are
putting up a barrier preventing the parents most likely, of having the Lord
bless them in some way. The reputation and kindness of the Savior was well
known, his gentle spirit and obviously his miraculous healings preceded him. My
question is; why would the disciples put up this wall of protection? All they
were doing was protecting the Lord werenˇ¦t they? The Lord was busy, he was
popular among the people but in verse 14 the NIV version states that Christ was
indignant with their behavior. Why would the Lord have been indignant? We have
to ask ourselves are there sometimes barriers or walls we put up that are
unnecessary in our lives. We sometimes have to protect ourselves from external
forces that can damage our mind, soul or body; so how do we do that? The
scriptures give us a lot of tools and suggestions as to how we can do that. The
following are two questions for us to ask today.
1. Do
you have unnecessary barriers or walls in your life?
2. What steps will you take to protect
yourself from things that can damage you?
Psalm
32: 7
You
are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with
songs of deliverance. Selah
By: Davie R. Jones